Because Sen. Harry Reid‘s decision not to importune lenders on behalf of Fontainebleau (unlike CityCenter) means he steered clear of a widening circle of litigation and recrimination, that’s why. Among those in the hot seat are hapless James Packer and ousted F’blew boss Glenn Schaeffer (a once-brilliant career blown to smithereens) along with Chief Restructuring Officer Howard Karawan. (Remember him?) Scrutiny by the courts into F’blew may unravel some of the project’s lingering mysteries, such as why the “final” budget number kept ratcheting upward with no end in sight. For that matter, why have lenders tolerated a policy of ‘build first/design later’ which essentially guarantees cost overruns? Of all the ‘failsinos’ in Vegas history, F’blew — with its estimated completion cost of $4.4 billion — was the most out of control and remains the odds-on favorite to be the first Strip resort to be imploded without ever opening.
Pit bosses sacked … potentially. An edict mandating a 20:1 table-game-to-pit-boss ratio in Atlantic City casinos has been scrubbed from the books. Fewer suits peering over one’s shoulder is certainly to go over well with dealers, as former card-pitcher Roger Gros‘ reaction indicates. However, it’s difficult for S&G not to share the reservations of ex-regulator Carl Zeitz that New Jersey appears to be going the road of allowing casinos to police themselves. Gov. Chris Christie‘s frequent citation of Nevada‘s laissze-faire regulatory model as the standard to which the Garden State aspires ought to cause trepidation for anyone familiar with the Silver State’s habit of looking the other way when dubious business practices are afoot.
Cutbacks in New Jersey are as nothing compared to those underway at UNLV and elsewhere in Nevada. Among the casualties are a slew of degree programs at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, which is taking a giant leap backward to 2004 levels. To accomplish this three-R’s move, UNLV went outside the academic profession and enlisted former Boyd Gaming prexy Don Snyder. He’s a straight shooter and somebody for whom I have a lot of respect, not least for his “rainmaking” abilities. So it’s not without considerable thought that I submit Snyder is at serious risk of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
In a state that lives and dies on tourism, is it wise to be making such severe inroads in a program dedicated to that very industry? Some of the degree programs mentioned, like a major in sports management, sound either off-mission or expendable. However, casino management is a discipline unto itself and it ill-behooves UNLV to lump it under a one-size-fits all “Hospitality” major. (See the “Comments” section for a spirited rebuttal to Snyder’s rationale.) The State of Nevada’s adamant refusal to invest in its own future means fewer opportunities to home-grow talent for its signature industry … and a potential “brain drain” to other states where gaming in expansion mode.
After a momentary respite in February, Atlantic City took another hit in March, down 7%. Strong slot play and high hold at Borgata were almost enough to stave off declines at the tables, leaving the resort basically flat from last year. Buoyed by a strong March at Caesars Atlantic City (+10%), the four Caesars Entertainment properties held their ground pretty well, off 4%. At the other end of the spectrum, Trump Entertainment continued its slow-motion death spiral, down -23% overall, led by Trump Taj Mahal, off an alarming 28%.
Even the insolvent Atlantic City Hilton (-9.5%) defended its market share better than Trump Plaza and bottom-rung Trump Marina (-16% and -18%, respectively). The enormous Tropicana Atlantic City continues to underperform but a change of ownership at Resorts Atlantic City is generating tangible results, with gaming revenues up 12% last month — a pretty dramatic turnaround from the wretched Colony Capital era (now mercifully ended), providing at least some cause for optimism.
I dunno, David. I always thought Schaeffer got really lucky with Mandalay. Circus’ culture really couldn’t handle high end clientele, they weren’t used to big action, and the suits would always be sweating the bac room, especially if a table got up a couple hundred thou. Yeah, like $200K, not $2M.
Room quality and design resembled a Circus property, but nicer.
To my mind, he was in the right place at the right time. Don’t get me wrong, Mandalay was great conceptually, but as we all know, concept and execution are two different animals altogether.
As for Fountainbleu, Schaeffer was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Maybe he might have gotten a better result had he been dealing with Soffer and Packer pere, instead of fils. You think, Crown, Turnberry, how could this possibly go wrong?
Weren’t Mandalay Bay, Luxor, Excaliber, and Monte Carlo built by Mike Ensign? I thought Glen Schaffer was only the CFO.
Schaeffer was both president and CFO of Mandalay Resort Group. He was also far and away the public face of the company … which may have led to his getting more credit for Mandalay Bay than he deserved. (He was certainly *perceived* as one of the brightest luminaries in the business, as well as one of its few intellectuals.)
Schaeffer’s influence within the company made Bill Bennett sufficiently jealous that it set off a power struggle that eventually ended with Bennett’s exile from then-Circus Circus Corp. Unfortunately for readers of Bennett bio “Forgotten Man,” the chronology of this Circus-dammerung is hopelessly muddled by transcriber Jack Sheehan.
Of all the resorts that opened between 1998-2000 (Bellagio, Paris, Venetian, Aladdin and Mandalay Bay) I always liked Mandalay Bay the best. Back in 2005 and 2006 I was out in Las Vegas alot more and I always had a great time at Mandalay Bay.
Part of what might have made Mandalay Bay seem better than it was was its neighbors were Luxor, Excalibur and Tropicana. These are all midlevel properties which are OK at best in my opinion. Tourists staying at these 3 hotels would notice the proximity of Mandalay Bay and head over there to check it out.
[…] lead owner, Marc Lasry, just wishes his casinos’ namesake would just shut the hell up, especially after a March shellacking in Atlantic City? (The latter was mainly the fault of Lasry’s hand-picked CEO, Robert […]
[…] is the sort of thing that drives one’s negatives through the roof and his Atlantic City casinos had a ghastly March. Not only were their returns disproportionately bad for the market but even reliable Trump Taj […]